Early childhood caries experience of children accessing selected immunization facilities in Johannesburg

Abstract

introduction: Despite notable achievements in the enhancement of the oral health of populations globally, early childhood caries (ECC) remains a common condition, particularly in developing countries. Mother and child oral health programs at immunization facilities were piloted in two Gauteng Districts in 2015 in order to address the burden of disease. Hence there was an opportunity to assess the ECC experience and risk factors contributing to ECC at these sites. Methods: This retrospective study included records of mother and child pairs who attended the Diepsloot and Vanderbijlpark clinics Mother and Child programs in 2015. The ages of the children ranged between six months and six years. Data were collected from the oral health assessments and questionnaires used in the program. results: Differences in the distal and proximal factors at the two sites were identified from the 446 records assessed. Children in Diepsloot had significantly higher levels of mean dmft at 0.43 (1.26) than those in Vanderbiljpark 0.22 (0.70), p=0.01. conclusion: Though the general caries experience in this population was low (13.6%), program planners still need to consider differences in oral health exposures and hygiene practices in order to implement activities that are appropriate to the communities being served.

Maternal and infant risk factors and risk indicators associated with early childhood caries in South Africa: a systematic review

“…Mohamed and Barnes [ 34 ] found that parents of children had jobs that did not require a tertiary education. In addition, Molete and Phakela [ 25 ] found that most caregivers had a high school education. The results were supported by Ntombela and Mndzebele [ 30 ] who found a caries prevalence of almost 60%, where 90% of the caregivers had a primary school education.…”

“…There was no difference in caries prevalence in children whose households had garbage collection or no garbage collection [ 21 ]. Overall, urban children appear to have a higher prevalence, dmft and sugar intake than rural children [ 7 , 23 , 25 , 27 – 29 , 37 – 39 ]. However, rural children had a higher plaque index [ 29 ].…”

Children’s oral health in South Africa: Time for action

“…[9,10] During the evaluation of 10 schools-based oral health programmes in the District of Tshwane, the complexities and challenges that oral health providers experience while attempting to implement preventative policy objectives became apparent. The preliminary findings of the analysis revealed that none of the 10 schools evaluated managed to achieve even an acceptable level of adherence (50%) to policy (Molete et al, 2018).…”

“…Challenges that were observed and reported include issues of having to provide school oral health programmes and services without chairside assistance, due to staff shortages. Other factors included defective portable equipment, ill-equipped school facilities, inadequate teacher co-operation and lack of school health-promotion policies addressing sugary snack intake (Molete et al, 2018).…”

“…[1,3] A study conducted at two immunisation sites in Johannesburg among children (N=446) between 6 months and 6 years old demonstrated that although the caries level of the children at the sites was below 5%, the risks that contributed most to early childhood caries included low educational levels of caregivers, poor behavioural patterns of feeding and inadequate oral hygiene practices. [11] Such immunisation sites should therefore be targeted in order to access caregivers and facilitate their oral health awareness around reducing caries risk factors. These settings would additionally create an environment of collaboration among a broader array of healthcare professionals involved in child health.…”